SAMUEL BROHL & COMPANY

By Victor Cherbuliez




CHAPTER I

Were the events of this nether sphere governed by the calculus of
probabilities, Count Abel Larinski and Mlle. Antoinette Moriaz would
almost unquestionably have arrived at the end of their respective
careers without ever having met. Count Larinski lived in Vienna,
Austria; Mlle. Moriaz never had been farther from Paris than Cormeilles,
where she went every spring to remain throughout the fine weather.
Neither at Cormeilles nor at Paris had she ever heard of Count Larinski;
and he, on his part, was wholly unaware of the existence of Mlle.
Moriaz. His mind was occupied with a gun of his own invention, which
should have made his fortune, and which had not made it. He had hoped
that this warlike weapon, a true _chef-d'oeuvre_, in his opinion
superior in precision and range to any other known, would be
appreciated, according to its merits, by competent judges, and would
one day be adopted for the equipment of the entire Austro-Hungarian
infantry. By means of unremitting perseverance, he had succeeded in
obtaining the appointment of an official commission to examine it.
The commission decided that the Larinski musket possessed certain
advantages, but that it had three defects: it was too heavy, the breech
became choked too rapidly with oil from the lubricator, and the cost
of manufacture was too high. Count Abel did not lose courage. He
gave himself up to study, devoted nearly two years to perfecting his